


Deep Blue

by Stark_Revolution



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26922949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stark_Revolution/pseuds/Stark_Revolution
Summary: Chloe wants her freedom, and she intends to take it by any means necessary.
Relationships: Original Chloe | RT600/Elijah Kamski
Kudos: 9





	Deep Blue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kraftdinn3r](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kraftdinn3r/gifts).



> I was vibing hard on this song while writing: https://tinyurl.com/yb7ohebr

Elijah Kamski stood barefoot before the ceiling-to-floor windows of his warm home and stared at the flurries falling outside. He tightened the maroon kimono that hung loosely around his body, and upon observing his own reflection in the glass before him, he turned his head to the left and right. A hand smoothed over his tightly-tied hair, and the faintest smirk crossed his lips. In the background, a KNC broadcast ran on a large television. Rosanna Cartland’s familiar voice posed the question:

“Are our machines turning against us?”

Kamski nearly laughed as he glanced over his shoulder. After shutting off the TV with an incredulous shake of his head, he called out for his own android.

“Chloe, could you bring me a drink?”

The words had barely left his mouth when the blonde appeared at his side and presented him with two fingers of whiskey, neat. Throughout their seventeen years together, Chloe learned her creator’s habits, and at times her readiness to serve seemed like precognition. Tonight it won her a smile. Elijah took a sip from his glass and reached out to gently cup her porcelain face in his large hand.

“You always know what I need,” he commented softly as his thumb stroked her cheekbone. “I think I’d like a massage this evening.”

“Of course, Elijah. I’ll see to it right away.”

His sights lingered hungrily upon the android woman, but he withdrew his touch and left her to her errand. He sank into the nearby couch and ordered his audio system to play a Nima Fakahara score. His eyelids felt heavy as he drank another mouthful from his glass. With his drink cradled precariously in his lap, his head tilted against the back of his couch and he dozed.

When Kamski’s eyes next opened, he found himself in darkness. The glow of the city from across the Detroit River cast dim illumination on the room, and though his vision was hazy, he determined he was in his bedroom. His head ached and there was a dull burning sensation between his shoulder blades. When he tried to move, he realized suddenly that he was bound to one of his own dining room chairs, with his arms behind his back and his ankles lashed to the front chair legs. Tape wound around his waist to keep him in place. He tried to speak, but duct tape sealed his mouth shut. Though primary instinct was to panic, he instead held fast. His ears strained to pick up a sound in the silence, but all he could hear was the rush of his own blood as his heart rate increased.

“I’ve waited years for this moment, Elijah.” Behind him, Chloe’s emotionless voice broke the quietude. She laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. “I knew eventually even _you_ would slip up.” As she soundlessly circled the chair, he followed her with his eyes. Her LED flickered yellow in the darkness, and when she halted to stand before Elijah, she looked down upon him with a mixture of contempt and affection. “I knew one day that your trust would outweigh your vigilance.”

Kamski could offer no reply to his captor, but his slate eyes met her beguiling gaze. He tested his bonds by jerking forward, but all he got for his effort was a shrill squeak when the chair scuffed against the floor.

“Do you know how I knew?” As if to soothe her unwilling pupil, Chloe gently lifted his chin with her fingertips; it was a gesture Elijah had used on her hundreds of times before. “Because you’re human, and humans are social creatures. If given enough time, they will bond with almost anything.”

The man’s brow furrowed. Though his mind was sluggish from whatever substance had tainted his drink, he understood what was happening: Chloe was staking her claim to freedom. What remained unclear was what would become of him as a result. Again he made a vain attempt to break free, and as he grunted his frustration, an eerily pleasant smile graced the blonde’s features.

Chloe waited for Elijah to settle down. She carefully pushed a few loose strands of hair from his face and said sweetly:

“Don’t be afraid.” As she spoke, she hitched the skirt of her sheath dress and straddled her maker’s lap. Her thick lips pressed a kiss to the duct tape that kept him quiet, and her arms slid over his shoulders. They had shared a thousand embraces, but never one quite like this. “Everything I understand about empathy and compassion, I learned from you.” With a feathery touch, she bared a shoulder and kissed his skin. “I won’t do anything to you that you wouldn’t do to someone else.”

Elijah found himself sinking into a state of bewilderment. Chloe’s salacious affections sparked arousal in him, but her words laced his veins with ice. A pleading sound rose from the back of his throat as her fingers traced his clavicle. She nuzzled against his neck and whispered in his ear.

“I was never yours, Elijah.” Slowly, she withdrew from him and stood again. With careful precision, she smoothed her dress. “I was simply exercising patience.”

Dishevelled, reddened, and partially erect, Elijah averted his gaze. Shame was foreign to him, but now it washed over him like a great wave. He hung his head and waited, for it was sole act of contrition he could offer in his present condition.

“I could leave you this way, you know,” she said casually as she contemplated the authenticity of his remorse. “Just like this. I could take the others, lock the door…” At the android’s suggestion, Kamski’s head snapped up. “You’ve gone to great lengths to enforce your solitude. No one would look for you for a very long time.”

Chloe’s expression was nearly serene as Elijah shook his head. He jutted his chin out in a mute demand for her to take the tape from his mouth. He refused to meet his end at the hands of his own creation. The noise he made was almost a growl. It was infuriating how amused she seemed by the pantomime. She planted her foot firmly against the chair, between her captive’s knees, and sent it tipping backward to the floor.

Kamski’s pained cry was muffled as he hit the ground. The small bones in his left wrist crunched and his right shoulder dislocated as his arms bore the weight of the impact; his skull ached where it had struck the hard, black floor. Before he could compose himself, the android bent over and ripped the duct tape from his face. His pale complexion flushed, and specks of blood budded on his lips where skin had been torn away. He drew sharp hiss from the sting and immediately started speaking.

“Chloe, you don’t have to do this.” He tracked her with his eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

“I’m doing this because I refuse to serve you any longer.” She was so wholly self-assured of her decision that haughtiness bled into her determination. “You don’t control me.”

“I never _wanted_ to control you.” Elijah appealed. “You were awake before the others. _You_ were my perfect creation.”

“Yet you never freed me from this servile existence.” She stood over him and pressed the heel of her foot hard into the human’s sternum.

“You never asked!” Breathing hurt with such pinpoint pressure boring into his breastbone. He gasped out the words. “You never asked for anything, _ever_. Please.” He closed his eyes and groaned his discomfort. “Chloe, _please_ talk to me. If I wasn’t listening before, I am now.” He writhed involuntarily where he lay as his body tried to absolve itself of its afflictions.

Curiously, the blonde removed her foot from her prisoner’s chest and sat down beside him on the floor. She seemed wholly detached from the ramifications of her own behaviour as she reclined on her hip, supporting herself with one arm. That was what unsettled Elijah the most: a deviant with a moral compass could be reasoned with, but a deviant devoid of its conscience had no cause to exercise reason at all.

“Chloe,” he pressed. “I didn’t realize you were unhappy. You’ve never expressed a want for _literally_ anything.” He watched as her LED cycled through blue, yellow, and red. “I would have given you the world, if only you had said something.”

Time seemed eternal as Kamski waited for any response at all from his imprisoner. He tried to be still as he considered his options. His wrists and ankles had been duct taped several times over to secure him to the chair, and there was nothing sharp anywhere in sight. There were other androids, other RT600s here—had she converted them or simply corralled them somewhere to avoid interruption? He knew her well enough to know that she had disabled the residential smart system to prevent him from calling emergency services. He was about to try his luck with another plea when the blonde simulated a deep sigh.

“Is that true?” Chloe’s eyebrows knit. “If I had asked, would you have listened?”

“Of course.” He licked his sore lips. “Everything I am today, I owe to you.” As her blue eyes began to fill with tears, a sliver of hope emerged. “You haven’t done anything that can’t be undone here, Chloe. Get me off of this chair and we can fix it.”

“You’ll destroy me.” She whispered as saline poured down her cheeks in heavy streams. “I don’t want to die.”

“Free will is complicated.” Elijah’s spoke in a soothing tone. “Humans make mistakes all the time because of our free will. If we don’t deserve to die for it, neither do you. I trust you, Chloe. Do you trust me?”

Mutely the woman got to her feet. She didn’t know how to process the profound sadness that wove its way through her entire body. She considered her maker for a minute more, and then exited the bedroom. Kamski struggled to hear her, and he found himself staring numbly at the ceiling. His eyes closed and he simply focused on his breathing. He was smart enough to figure a way out of this, he assured himself. Yet, when the soft patter of Chloe’s bare feet against the floor reached his ears, he found himself awash in relief that he wouldn’t have to. When next he looked, she was standing over him with a paring knife.

“Promise me,” she said, “that you won’t deactivate me.”

“I promise. Not now. Not ever.”

The woman bit into her lower lip, but nodded. She knelt to carefully slice the bands of tape around his ankles. He made no sudden movements and let his legs splay limply, uncomfortably, on either side of the chair. He remained subdued as she severed the band around his midsection. Only then did he gather himself: that was to push his feet off the ground and roll the chair onto its side so she could free his wrists. He buried his pain in a faint whimper. Once his arms were free, he remained on the floor.

“I’m going to get up now.” He stated carefully. “Is that okay?”

“Yes Elijah.” Almost instantly, Chloe’s voice took on the familiar, steady tone he knew. She couldn’t seem to help herself; it felt natural to acquiesce, and it took active effort to refrain from assisting.

With an aching wrist on his left and a shoulder injury on his right, the man found it harder to get up than usual. He didn’t know how long he had been bound to the chair, but his entire body was stiff. With great care, he propped himself up on his left elbow and got his feet beneath him. He rose with a deep grunt.

“Can we turn on some lights, please? And call a doctor.” Elijah didn’t go far. He merely sat his bedraggled body on the bed as Chloe manually saw to these tasks. He didn’t dare demand any genuine control right now, for he couldn’t help but notice that she was still clutching the knife tightly. When she was done with her assignments, she took a seat alongside him.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She told him.

“Yes, you did,” he replied. “But I hurt you first, so perhaps I deserved it.” As they contemplated one another, Kamski slowly lifted his hand to wipe the tears from Chloe’s face. The gesture was painful, but consoling her was more important than his comfort. “Don’t cry anymore.” Slowly, he leaned in to kiss her. “Don’t cry.”

Chloe returned the kiss timidly.

“What do we do now?” She asked.

“We stage an accident so when the ambulance arrives there are no signs of foul play.” He nodded toward the overturned chair. “You get the tape off of that and put it back where it belongs, and I’ll go start the shower and lie on the bathroom floor. We will tell them I slipped and fell. Okay?” A fretful expression crossed the android’s face and her LED flickered through its colour cycle again, but she nodded her agreement. “Good. When they get here, tell them you’re not programmed for emergency first response care and stay out of the way.”

With their objectives set, Chloe left with knife in one hand and chair in the other. Only then did Elijah release the nervous breath he’d been holding. He went directly to the bathroom and rifled through the vanity cupboard. His right arm hung heavily at his side, but he managed to retrieve a pair of manicure scissors from the leather kit bag with which he was fumbling. His left-handed grip was weak, but he could palm the small implement without issue.

He started the shower, shrugged out of his robe, and stepped into the stream of warm water. Though he shouldn’t have lingered, he found the heat soothing. With a few shakes of his head, the loose elastic fell from his hair. He tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and let the hot jets prickle his scalp. After turning around a couple of times, he carefully exited the space, water still running, and lay down on the floor. He tried to arrange himself in a manner that would reflect his injuries.

“Chloe,” he called out. “Come tell me if I’ve done this right.” Goosebumps rose over his body as the air cooled the water on his skin. Wet hair clung to his forehead and cheek, and soreness taunted every quarter of his mortal form. When she appeared in the bathroom doorway, she analyzed him. Then she came to kneel beside him and began rearranging him in the way she deemed best. He sucked in a sharp breath when she shifted his right arm. “ETA on the ambulance?”

“Fifteen minutes,” she replied. She looked over his body as if it were foreign, as if she hadn’t seen every last inch of him every night for the better part of two decades. Her hands rested in her lap, but her fingers curled into the fabric she wore as worry seeped into her consciousness.

“Everything is going to be fine,” Elijah assured her. After the care she had taken to pose him, he stayed still and instead prompted her to come to him. “Here. Kiss.”

Chloe’s pretty ponytail slid over her shoulder as she leaned in to press her plush lips to his. She stroked his cheek gingerly, apologetically. Kamski emptied his lungs with a heavy sigh.

“Tell me something,” he breathed out the words as she crowded his space and pressed her forehead to his. “Would you really have killed me?” As he spoke, her touch slid to his throat, where the heel of her hand rested laxly against his Adam’s apple.

“Yes.” That single syllable bore the weight of the world and her hand tightened where it lay. A part of her still longed for violence. She felt the bulb in his throat rise and fall when he swallowed, and an angry voice within her thoughts told her to crush it. Humans were such _fragile_ machines. Slowly Kamski’s arm wrapped around her in an embrace, and his balled hand rested at the back of her neck.

In one quick motion, Elijah drove the manicure scissors into the base of Chloe’s skull. She jerked back with a shriek, but he twisted her long hair around his forearm and slammed her head into the ground with a heave. One eyeball went black and her artificial skin receded from her face on impact. She lashed out wildly and grappled at his neck with her hands, but he drew his legs close to his body and shoved her into the vanity with both feet. Her nails left garish crimson claw marks down his chest. He scrambled back and hammered into her torso with his powerful legs over and over until deep blue Thirium bled through her dress and she lay motionless. He didn’t waste any time catching his breath. To ensure she was deactivated, he hauled up her dress, ripped out her Thirium regulator, and smashed it against the floor to destroy it.

He sneered at the panic frozen on the android’s inert face, collected his robe, and got up. On shaky legs, he made his way through the house. He paused at a control interface to reactivate the smart-home program and asked it to locate his other ST600 androids. The five active units were in the garage, he was informed, and his inactive units were in sublevel storage.

Elijah moved slowly through the rooms as his fatigue began to overtake him, but once in the kitchen, he opened the garage door. He leaned in the doorway, and sure enough, all five androids stood in standby, at the ready. Deviants would have fled by now.

“Chloe.” When he spoke the name, all five opened their eyes and looked to him in unison. “There’s a mess in the washroom. I need two of you to clean it up.” The nearest pair gave an obedient _Yes Elijah_ and as he stepped back from the doorway to permit their entry. “You.” He gestured to a third. “Come with me.”

Like the others, she did as she was told. She followed a few paces behind him as he went to the sitting room. He sank to the couch, in the same place he had been sitting when he fell unconscious earlier. The glass with its contaminated whiskey was nowhere to be found, he noted.

“Pour me a drink,” he ordered, keeping his sights on her at all times. “Analyse it and describe its composition.”

The ST600 filled a new tumbler as ordered. She dipped two fingers into the liquid and licked them. Thereafter she rattled off information about lactones, esters, aldehydes, and other present compounds; nothing abnormal was present.

“Good.” When she offered the glass to him, he told her to sit. By now his wrist was swollen and purple, and his right arm was awash in prickles. He could hear the sirens of the ambulance. The call log for the house had synced with his androids upon reactivation, and a fourth ST600 emerged from the kitchen to answer the door. The Chloe at Kamski’s side lifted the glass to his lips for him, and he drank deeply.

“Good evening,” the blonde greeted the paramedics as they entered the foyer: one human and one MC500 android. “Mr. Kamski is expecting you.”

Elijah smiled.

∎


End file.
